The SMOM is an elite Roman Catholic Knighthood headed by a Grandmaster who works at the behest of the Pope. Membership is derived from Politics, Industry, Finance, Military, Intelligence, Media and Entertainment. Knights and Dames first swear loyalty to the Pope and then to their country. "Defending the faith" and helping fellow members while serving the Order constitutes their ethics.

Sunday, 31 August 2008

Umberto Ortolani

Umberto Ortolani• Lawyer, businessman• Another Gelli contact inside Vatican• Member, P-2• Along with Gelli and Sidona, works with Calvi• Linked to the Knights of Malta, elevated by Paul VI to “Gentleman of His Holiness”

Another key P2 member who was a Knight was Count Umberto Ortolani,a member of the SMOM's ruling inner council, and a veteran of Mussolini's counterespionage service. Some say he was the real brains behind P2, and he did sponsor the entrance of P2 boss Licio Gelli into the SMOM. Ortolani was a financier who, among other things, owned the second-largest bank in Uruguay, where he commanded enormous influence; the fascist Gelli had been in exile in Ibero-America until higher powers brought him back to Italy in the early 1960s to set up what became the P2 lodge.

Another close associate and member of this "Gang of Four" was Umberrto Ortolani, a former OVRA Intelligence Officer and co-patron for Calvi while he was moving up in the Banco Ambrosiano. Ortolani was also tied to a secretive Roman Catholic order known as the Knights of Malta, and was elevated by Pope Paul VI to the status of "Gentleman of his Holiness." He also sponsored Liccio Gelli for membership in the Knights of Malta.

P-2 was unmasked in 1981 during police investigations into the Mafia contacts and financial crimes of Italian banker Michele Sindona, who for many years was the chief influence in the Vatican Bank, thanks to his contacts with Paul VI and Prince Massimo Spada, a Vatican nobleman, top financial adviser to the Holy See, and a Knight of Malta. Numerous members of P-2 also turned out to be Knights of Malta, including several military and police intelligence chiefs and bankers.

The most sinister was Count Umberto Ortolani, SMOM's ambassador to Uruguay and the brains behind the P-2. Ortolani had extensive bank and real estate holdings in Uruguay and was at one time the head of Uruguay's second-largest private bank, Banco Financiero Sudamericano. He also established a P-2 branch in Montevideo, with about 500 members, including prominent military hard-liners. When the P-2 scandal broke, Ortolani fled to Sao Paulo, Brazil, whence the Italian police were unable to extradite him, because of Brazil's resistant extradition laws.

According to "Knights of Darkness" author Francois Hervet: "Freemasonry generally purports to be hostile to Catholicism... nevertheless in December of 1969 an exclusive meeting was held in the Rome office of Count Umberto Ortolani, the ambassador of the Knights of Malta to Uruguay, who has been called 'the brains' behind the "P2" Masonic lodge. In addition to Ortolani, the meeting included only Licio Gelli, Roberto Calvi, and Michele Sindona"; all of whom have been implicated in the death of Pope John Paul I and massive bank fraud.

Freemasonry generally purports to be hostile to Catholicism, and conversely, the Vatican has at various times forbidden Catholics to join Masonic organizations. Nevertheless, in December of 1969 an exclusive meeting was held in the Rome office of Count Umberto Ortolani, the Ambassador of the Order of Malta to Uruguay, who has been called "the brains" behind the fascist P-2 Masonic Lodge, which had been established in the mid-1960s.20 In addition to Ortolani, the meeting included only Licio Gelli, Roberto Calvi, and Michele Sindona.21

[Umberto Ortolani; secret chamberlain of the Papal Household; member of the inner council of the Knights of Malta; said to be a member of Cardinal Giacomo Lercano; met with Licio Gelli, Roberto Calvi, and others in Rome in December 1969]